The House Appropriations Committee voted 7-4 Monday afternoon to advance a new state budget on to the full House for consideration.

All four Republicans rejected the plan in what may be a harbinger of the floor debate later this week.

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The spending plan relies on $23 million in revenue from higher taxes approved Friday by the Ways & Means Committee.

Gov. Peter Shumlin has already voiced strong disapproval over the tax hikes which range from expanding the current sales tax to soda, water, candy and vitamins -- to higher cigarette and meals taxes.

Rep. Martha Heath, the Westford Democrat who chairs the budget committee, said her panel faces many hard choices.

"We've spent less than the governor -- we've raised less money and spent less," Heath said. "Another significant difference is that we put $8 million more into our reserves, which we think is fiscally prudent thing to do given that we don't know the full impact of the sequester yet."

The committee rejected Shumlin's proposal to trim the Earned Income Tax Credit for working Vermonters, and his call for sharp increases in state child care subsidies for young families. The money to support it just wasn't there, Heath said.

Committee members spent Monday afternoon settling on language concerning reforms in the state Reach Up program, agreeing to a five-year limit on welfare benefits with exemptions for specific hardship cases as changes are phased in.

Karen Lafayette, of the Vermont Low Income Advisory Council said , "I think you're going to put families in turmoil and create a situation where all other services at the local level and in other places will be strained."

The panel agreed on a 3 percent increase in Medicaid reimbursement rates for health providers. Health said it would ease the "cost shift" and corresponding increases in private health premiums.

The plan includes some money to soften the blow Vermonters now on state-subsidized health insurance programs - like Catamount Health - will otherwise face as they transition to the new federal health exchange system in January.

One disappointment for Democrats -- the absence of any new funding for 'thermal efficiency' programs. Heath said the money just wasn't available.

Rep. Shap Smith, the House Speaker, said the House has clear differences with the governor over the new FY'14 budget which he said will mean spirited negotiations at the session's end, as usual here.

The House is set to debate both the tax and budget packages starting Wednesday.